Tammy Duckworth could be the first senator to bring her newborn to the Senate floor
By Kylie Cheung
Senator Tammy Duckworth could offer major change for future political parents with a resolution to allow children on the Senate floor during votes.
Earlier this month, Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth made history by becoming the first sitting senator to give birth. Duckworth, who is the first disabled woman in Congress and first Asian-American woman to represent her state in U.S. Congress, gave birth to her second child, daughter Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, on April 9.
On Monday, the senator introduced a resolution that would allow children under 1 year old to be present on the Senate floor during votes. Currently, U.S. senators must be present on the floor to cast votes. They can’t vote by proxy as they can on committees. In the next three months, while Duckworth takes an unofficial maternity leave, she could miss votes on legislation for being with her newborn.
“I can’t be away from a newborn infant in the first three months for that long,” Duckworth told Politico in February.
Duckworth’s pregnancy and subsequently, giving birth, have sparked some important conversations about representation, and how it affects cultural expectations and policies that affect women’s everyday lives. Her new resolution shows how experiences can guide lawmakers’ areas of focus. It also demonstrates the extent to which family leave and maternal care have been sidelined by a Congress that is 80 percent male. The United States is the only industrialized country in the world lacking paid family leave, and the national dialogue has been severely lacking for meaningful conversation about family leave prior to Duckworth’s historic pregnancy.
“Sen. Duckworth is glad to be able to offer this legislation to ensure no senator with an infant is prevented from performing their constitutional responsibilities — and send a message that working parents everywhere deserve family-friendly workplace policies,” Duckworth’s chief of staff Kaitlin Fahey said in a statement to Politico.
A recent political science study revealed that, in addition to introducing and passing for legislation than their male counterparts, female legislators are more likely to focus on critical domestic issues like civil rights, paid leave, health care, education, and other issues. Clearly, representation is more than symbolic.
Despite widespread disagreement about issues like family leave among Democrats and Republicans, Duckworth’s proposed rule change has bipartisan support and seems likely to pass.
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According to Politico, the Senate Rules Committee may move the measure as soon as this week. The committee’s chairman Republican Sen. Roy Blunt and ranking Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar have both expressed support for the rule change. If the bill receives approval from the Rules Committee, the full Senate would vote on the measure.